98 riders made the trek out to Delvera trail centre just outside Stellenbosch on a fresh Autumn Sunday to take part in the one day Enduro stage race. The 15.8km route was broken up into 4 timed special stages and 4 non timed Liaisons. Unlike last year the organisers decided to combine SS2 and SS3 together to help the flow of the course and create a stage with contrasting features from technical rocky tight sections to hard pack flowy singletrack with jumps and berms near the bottom.
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/408483
Richard Russel smashing warm up laps on the 4X track before the race briefing.
Pre-race banter and race briefing. Gary Barnard (pictured left) showed his form once again, taking the top step in elite on the day.
The route started out with 5.35km long Liason 1, a big climb which snaked all the way up to the top of SS1.
Devon Katzen – 11th Overall.
Gary Barnard digging deep on SS2 to take the overall.
“This was my first time racing a Dirtopia Enduro. The weather was perfect, the trails were fun nothing very technical but that made it possible for more riders to safely compete. Apart from catching up to a few riders on some of the stages and taking a wrong turn on the final stage I really enjoyed the event and will definitely return for another one! It was well organised and a good time with the boys.” – Justin Novella
Michael Lord coming in 13th overall on a hard tail XC bike. Definitely someone to watch out for in the future.
Richard Russel attacking the course which landed him a solid 21st overall.
SS4 took the riders out of the vineyards and into the woods with some flowy, fast singletrack.
Justin Novella – SS4.
Post ride chit chat about all those sketchy moments!
Thanks to all the sponsors as well as Meurant and Arina for putting together yet another superb enduro!
Video: facebook.com/ThomasSandellVideo
Words: Justin Novella and Thomas Sandell.
All the race photos are available here.
Are these trails available to ride for anyone & any day ?